7And the king rose in his anger from the banquet of wine into the garden of the palace and Haman stood to seek upon his soul from Esther the queen because he saw that the bad from the king was finished on him. 8And the king returned from the garden of the palace to the house of the banquet of the wine and Haman [was] one falling on the couch which Esther [was] on, and the king said, “Will [he] also violate the queen with me in the house?” The word went out from the mouth of the king and the face of Haman was covered. 9And Harbona, one from the eunuchs to the face of the king, said, “Also, look! The gallows, which Haman made to Mordecai who spoke [intensely] good on the king, standing in the house of Haman fifty cubits high,” and the king said, “Hang him on it!” 10And they hung Haman on the gallows which he had caused to prepare to Mordecai and the anger of the king abated.
The next thing I’d like to do is to pause and ponder the people involved here. First off we have Xerxes. In v.7, we find before us an angry king. That is nearly always a bad thing. As it says in Prov. 16:14, “A king’s wrath is a messenger of death…” Xerxes was just broadsided by the truth that Haman has tricked him. When Haman had told him about the “wicked people in his kingdom” and proposed to dispose of them, Xerxes had assumed he could trust Haman, gave him his signet ring, and said, “Do what you think best.” He trusted him.
Now suddenly, Xerxes sees Haman has taken advantage of his trust and, as a result, his very queen and the man who spoke up for him, Mordecai, have been condemned to death. Obviously, whatever Haman had against the Jews, it is not true what he said: “There is a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom…Their customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.” Esther? This beautiful, humble girl who has captured Xerxes’ heart? Mordecai? The man who risked his own life to protect him? These are the people, “It is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them”? What Haman had told him was not true. To make matters even worse, the edict went out in his name, the name of Xerxes, to annihilate these people. Then add to this the problem that once a law was passed in Medo-Persia it could not be repealed.
The king is backed into a corner.
Kings don’t like to be backed into corners.
Back a wild animal into a corner some time and you’ll get a glimpse of what a king in that situation is like. I once suddenly had a woodchuck essentially cornered. If you ever observed them, they look like fat little jolly fellows as they work around the edge of a field eating the clover. This one was none of that. I couldn’t believe the snarling, vicious creature suddenly just a few feet from me. He may have been small, but he was in that moment a very dangerous wild animal. I shot him. Fortunately that is the end of that story. However, for me, it was “lesson learned.” Do NOT corner wild animals.
Haman hadn’t learned that about kings. Same lesson. That day the woodchuck ended up hanging dead on the fence and the hunter walked away. Haman, the hunter himself, ends up the one hanging in Esther’s story! Again, we should all observe, “Do NOT corner kings.” That applies in particular to bosses as well. Then, without trying very hard, we’ll find out it applies to all people. No one likes to be cornered. Do so and you will one way or another be dealing with a snarling, vicious wild animal. What makes kings and bosses particularly dangerous is their power to bite you. Observe Haman and say, “Lesson learned.” “Don’t corner woodchucks.” “Don’t corner kings.” “Don’t corner anyone, if you can help it!”
As I ponder this man whose head is suddenly reeling, there is a part of me that doesn’t want to sympathize with such a wicked, selfish king. However, on the other hand, I feel I totally understand why he jumps up and goes out into the garden. We’ve all been there. We know what it feels like to suddenly be told some devastating news. Our first response is just shock. Our head spins. We need a second away. Then the full realization of what we’ve just been told and what it means for us begins to form in our minds. With that, Xerxes goes back in the room to deal with this man who has tricked him, who has cornered him.
And what meets his eyes? That man is on the couch with his beautiful queen! He immediately shouts, “Will he also violate the queen even with me in the house?” On the one hand, I doubt he really thought Haman had any designs on the queen. He’s just angry and will interpret negatively anything Haman does. On the other hand, I’m sure Persian kings had very strict rules for how any man could interact with his beautiful queen. It wouldn’t surprise me if men were absolutely forbidden from ever getting even within arm’s length of her. It wouldn’t surprise me if men weren’t even allowed to talk to her without the king’s permission. What I’m suggesting is that, even if it was obvious Haman had no lustful intentions, it is probably true that his being on Esther’s very couch and speaking with her was a total violation of Persian protocol. I’m betting that alone would have gotten him a trip to the gallows.
That brings us to Haman. Just yesterday, he was the extremely wealthy, powerful right hand man to the king, boasting to his wife and friends, and plotting the murder of an innocent man. Suddenly that man is on his knees pleading for his life to one of the very people he had plotted to kill. He had forgotten that, no matter how rich and powerful you may be, if there is someone more powerful than you, you’d better not forget it! That is, of course, one the problems with pride. When our own heart is swelled up with our vainly imagined importance, we fail to see we’re actually in a rowboat, facing a battleship. Haman failed to realize that all of his power and wealth hung literally by a thread and it was Xerxes who held that thread.
You and I need to be humble enough to remember our lives are no different. As we go to work, we’d better realize that someone signs our paychecks. For myself, it was a glorious day when I was walking across the yard at A.E. Staley and it suddenly occurred to me, “I could be fired.” For whatever reason, all in a flash, I was aware that I had a really, really good job. I had a regular (good) income coming in with health insurance and 401K benefits and all the rest. It would be a colossal disaster to me (and my wife and little baby son) if I woke up tomorrow morning no longer employed. And what made the difference? Those guys in the front office. They could be deciding at that very moment they wanted to fire me and there would be nothing I could do about it. I suddenly had the overwhelming realization that I had better do everything in my power to stay in those guys’ good graces. I’d better do my job and do it well. I needed to always work remembering in the back of my mind, “I could be fired.” I say again that was, for me, a glorious day. Haman was too proud to realize his job hung by a thread. You and I need to be different!
Then there is Esther. The poor sweetheart is in the very eye of this hurricane. When she finally said, “The adversary and enemy is this vile Haman,” she did not know if the king would take her side, or if he might immediately defend his fair-haired boy and instead turn his anger on Esther. “How dare you accuse my prime minister!” he could have shouted. Then it would have been Esther who died. Literally. That is what she had said: “If I perish, I perish.”
If I could insert a thought, I wonder if the Lord had lately allowed Xerxes to detect Haman’s ambitions? In other words, had Haman done or said some things that left even a shadow of a doubt in Xerxes’ mind about this guy Haman? Obviously, any king had to be extremely jealous of his throne, especially in the company of his richest, most powerful nobles. History is littered with the kings who weren’t quite vigilant enough. It totally would not surprise me if, for Esther’s sake, the Lord had not allowed such glimmers into Xerxes’ mind, so that, when suddenly Haman is exposed, the king is already geared to dispose of him? Just a thought but it wouldn’t surprise me. One of the nice things about knowing the Lord is that, even at work, you can be confident He goes ahead of you and does a lot of quiet unseen work in people’s hearts.
As the king storms out of the house, Esther doesn’t know for sure if he’ll come back in to take her side or order her executed. Then she has blubbering, begging Haman suddenly in her face. A thousand different thoughts must have raced through her mind as suddenly the king re-enters and shouts, “Hang him!” There have apparently been writers down through the years that say she should have, in fact, pleaded with the king to spare Haman. People think that would have been the “Christian” thing to do. First of all, I doubt she had time. All in a flash the king re-enters, accuses Haman of designs on the queen, is told he’d built a gallows for Mordecai, and orders him hanged on it. They instantly cover Haman’s face and drag him out to be hung.
I doubt Esther had a chance to make any pleas at all. Also, remember, this is a king. Unlike Haman, Esther is humble enough to remember who is in charge. Xerxes has obviously already made up his mind. This is a very delicate point, but I would suggest, in this case, Esther was wise to hold her peace, even if her tender heart would have wanted to plead for Haman. I would also challenge whether pleading for Haman was in fact the “Christian” thing to do. Rom. 13:3,4 says, “Rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong…He does not bear the sword for nothing, He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrong-doer.” In this particular case, Xerxes is actually doing his job. I would suggest the “Christian” thing to do is to let the man do his job. And I believe Esther is wise enough to know that.
One last person I’d like to observe is Harbona, the king’s eunuch. He is an important fellow. He was identified back in 1:10 as one of the “seven eunuchs who served the king.” He is the one in our story who relates to the king, “A gallows seventy-five feet high stands by Haman’s house. He had it made for Mordecai, who spoke up for the king.” He is obviously suggesting to Xerxes that he should hang Haman on those very gallows.
Others commenting on this passage are quick to point out the fickle approvals of a king’s courtiers. Yesterday they were bowing in Haman’s presence. Today they’re quick to suggest “Hang him!” Typically a king is surrounded by sycophants very quick to perceive the king’s wishes and comply with them. That may all be true and may have played centrally in this sudden turn of attitudes. However, I would like to suggest another possibility. Remember back in 2:15 we were told that Esther “won the favor of everyone who saw her.” It was said of Hegai, who had charge of the harem, “The girl pleased him and won his favor” (2:9).” Then it was said of Xerxes himself, “Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins” (2:17).
What I’d like to suggest is that Harbona likes Esther. Just like everyone else, she has won his heart, and he is quite fond of her. If that be the case, I can imagine him being just as enraged as Xerxes that Haman could even possibly have put her life in danger. I don’t know if he actually was a physical eunuch or, if he was, what might be left of his maleness, but I can easily imagine the white knight of his male heart being immediately moved to protect this young maiden in distress. I can easily imagine him ready in any moment to defend this very sweet, very beautiful girl, of whom he (and everyone else) is quite fond. Anyone who would threaten his Esther is instantly an enemy in Harbona’s heart. Since we’re not told, we can only guess at what went on in Harbona’s heart, but I like the idea of putting the best possible spin on it all, and being male myself, I can easily imagine I’m right in this case.
For whatever it’s worth, we also need to remember Mordecai. He is at the gate, doing his job, but no doubt his heart is nearly breaking in fear for his beloved daughter and for the future of the Jewish people. He doesn’t know what’s going on. He’s not there. He simply has to trust God and wait and see. I wonder if he even knew that Haman had built a gallows for him? Whatever, what a joy it must have been for him to suddenly see the king’s eunuchs shoving Haman along with his head covered and to hear, “They’re going to hang him!” Mordecai still may not know what it all means. The edict still stands and cannot be repealed. There is still great uncertainty at that moment, yet, he is no doubt aware that the Lord is intervening in their behalf. He has reason to believe Esther has succeeded!
Lots of personalities. Lots of emotions. Everyone of these people is living real lives in a real world. If you and I are wise, we’ll see ourselves in each one of them and learn all we can. We may never face a situation so dire and consequential as this, but we face the same kinds of situations every day. Lord, help us all to face our lives wisely. May we be warned by those who’ve done wrong, but may we be instructed by the Mordecai’s and Esther’s who’ve done right!
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